


Breakthrough

by TheSadisticMunchkin



Category: NU'EST
Genre: Also vague mention of hwangniel, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Aron is a bit of an asshole in the beginning, But he grows out of it eventually dw, Doctors & Physicians, Eventual Fluff, Heavy Angst, Inspired by Frankenstein, It gets super emotional in the second chapter laid ease buckle up, M/M, Medical School, Pls don't hate Dongho tho it's literally just for plot driven angst, References to Frankenstein, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, There's not enough jron in the first chap I'm sorry luvs xx, YouTuber Aron, it's barely there, kind of, super vague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-11 16:10:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19542670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSadisticMunchkin/pseuds/TheSadisticMunchkin
Summary: "Death is a disease. A disease that doctors are too scared to treat."Future Doctor Aron Kwak-Frankenstein is described to be a genius and also a bit of a madman.And it takes a genius madman to be able to do impossible things.





	1. Life and Death

**Author's Note:**

> Hello so this fic got longer than I originally planned for it to be so its a two parter now!! YAY!! Also another kind of jron kind of minron fic yay!!
> 
> Just to let you all know, all of the scientific terms and explanations are from the lovely YouTube series by Pemberly Digital called Frankenstein, MD. It's based off of Mary Shelley's wonderful book. I binge watched it the other day and couldn't get the premise out of my mind. So I wrote this whole thing. Woot.
> 
> I altered a lot of other things in this fic so you don't really have to watch Frankenstein, MD to get this fic. I explain a lot of the science stuff in the fic anyway ^_^
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the fic!!

"Minhyun, I want my name to appear at around this time. Something sleek and understated but still professional." 

Aron does his practiced camera smile for the man behind it and he just wordlessly gives him a thumbs up. "Today, we're going to explore the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues, known collectively as electrophysiology." 

Minhyun makes a scissors gesture with his hands, Aron's cue that he's going to cut the footage here and they get to work setting up the machine that they're going to hook Dongho up to. The man in question ambles over, grumbling about how he feels like an assistant a lot of the time. "Come on, Dongho. We don't have all day." Aron says, untangling the wires and taping them down properly to the floor. "It's just a few electric currents. It won't hurt unless you tamper with my settings."

"Might I remind you, I'm also a medical doctor in training. And _you_ ," Dongho pushes his finger lightly on Aron's chest. "You're not even a doctor." 

" _Yet_ ," Aron says firmly, shrugging his shoulders as if it's a fate that can't be stopped. "I'm not a doctor _yet_."

"Then why is the show already called Kwak-Frankenstein, MD?" 

Aron sighs in mild frustration and stares cooly at Dongho. "Why deny the inevitable?" 

* * *

"Your subject _died_ during the experiment." 

"I brought him back to life! What's the big deal?" 

"You're awfully undermining the fact that they were talking about your _expulsion_." 

Aron tenses but he doesn't back down. Sure, Dongho may have been electrocuted through their experiment yesterday but Aron easily revived him. It's not like he killed Dongho… on purpose. The university board would _never_ expel him. He's contributed so much to the world of research even way before he entered the university. His name is already on the most prominent alumni column of their pamphlets and he hasn't even graduated yet. He's already expected to do greater things, sciences way beyond their wildest dreams. They'd be absolute fools to expel him. 

He knows that Dr. Tyler has got his back too. He is the only professor in this whole university who dares to look Aron in the eye. Though he never wins, he's the one who's got guts. Aron likes him as he speaks to him like an equal, understanding his intellect and his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. But Aron resents him too as he still treats him like a child. Dr. Tyler was childhood friends with his mother, who was ridiculed constantly in this very same university. He decided to make Frankenstein his last name in honor of her. In honor of the legacy she could have had. 

Not a day goes by where he doesn't miss her deeply. 

"Look, Aron…" Dr. Tyler sighs, defeated once more. "You're a brilliant doctor and an incredible researcher."

"Which is why they can't expel me," Aron finishes, knowing that he's right. "They can try all they want but they can't get rid of me. I'm not my mother." 

Dr. Tyler tenses up at that statement but he just looks away with another sigh. "I know you're not. You're miles and miles more intelligent than your mother. But I'm sure this isn't what your mother would have wanted for you."

Aron scoffs, looking to Minhyun who was still recording everything. He gestures to him to stop recording and turns back to glare at Dr. Tyler. That was the wrong thing to say to him. Maybe if he actually defended his mother back in school, Aron would think he's right. But he isn't. He stayed _quiet_ and watched her get kicked out. He said _nothing_ when he knew he could have said _anything_. 

"You don't know _what_ my mother would have wanted," He wills his voice not to shake as he glares at his professor with all the mixed emotions bubbling up inside of him. "You _left_ her to fend for herself. I don't think you're in a position to tell me what she wanted." 

He leaves his professor standing in the middle of the laboratory, unapologetic as he walks away. 

* * *

He's early in the laboratory today, against Dr. Tyler's wishes, but he doesn't care right now. Minhyun is going on a hiking trip with some of his college friends in the afternoon so he only has this morning before his cameraman leaves him alone with the filming and editing for three days. It's not like he's bad at editing, quite frankly Minhyun does very simple edits that he taught Aron the week before in preparation for his trip. 

"You'll be fine. As long as you don't make Dongho strip naked for an experiment where you have to blur stuff out, no one will know the difference in the editing." Minhyun says as he focuses the camera on where Aron is standing. "What are you doing today anyway?" 

"We're bringing in Jonghyun and Minki after they finish their doses for the university drug trial," Aron folds the hospital gowns that he borrowed yesterday and sets them aside. "They have to drive all the way back to Busan afterwards so it's good that we're filming early." 

"And Dongho?" Minhyun sits down in his fancy little director's chair that Aron bought him last Christmas. He doesn't actually need it but Aron never buys gifts because he's too busy doing experiments and researching. That was the only Christmas Aron came home and celebrated with everyone so this chair is special. "Is he not coming today?" 

"He's still recovering from being uh… Revived last time. Doctor said he still needs to rest, especially since his right arm is still aching." His movements are robotic and calculated as he arranges the syringes and IV drips on a separate table. He can't really afford to go off schedule and he really would rather not see Dongho. 

Then his phone rings and, true enough, it's Dongho on the other line. Aron sighs, connecting his phone to the webcam monitor, and presses the play button on the remote. The second Dongho's face appears on the screen, he speaks. "Make it short, I'm busy." 

"Wow, _somebody_ woke up on the other side of the morgue." 

Aron narrows his eyes in annoyance. He holds the remote up threateningly and Dongho throws his hands up in surrender. "Hey, hey, hey don't hang up!" 

"Then just tell me what you want to say. Jonghyun and Minki will be here in a few minutes and I can't fit more than 3 people on screen." 

"Well, I'm calling to remind you about that proposal you wanted to write about that experiment on… Uh what was it called—" 

"Magnetic Brain Stimulation. Yeah, I already dropped it off in Dr. Tyler's office. Anything else?" Aron looks up again at the screen where Dongho winces in pain as he moves his right arm. Aron sighs, leaning forward on the table. "How's the arm?" 

"Still an arm, that's for sure." Dongho says with a forced smile. Even Minhyun winces slightly at the fake tone of confidence from behind the camera. "I'll be up and about by tomorrow."

"Good. Get well soon and don't call until 8pm. Bye." Aron hangs up just as Jonghyun and Minki enter the lab. He smiles softly as Jonghyun approaches him for a hug. He holds a hand up jokingly, scanning him up and down with a raised brow. "You're clean, right?" 

Jonghyun laughs and goes in for that hug anyway. "Other than the fact that some dude in a lab coat injected me with some random drug up my butt, I'm completely clean." 

Aron laughs with him, a genuine one that he hasn't done in a while and hugs him back. He goes to hug Minki after, who is gushing about all the cute boys that he passed by on the way to the lab. "You wouldn't happen to know any of them, right?" 

"Aron doesn't have other friends in this university besides Dongho." Minhyun quips from behind the camera. "So don't try and ask him." 

Minki groans, pushing Aron's shoulder playfully. "You have hundreds of eye candy walking about campus! How have you _never_ dated?" 

Aron shrugs, handing Minki one of the hospital gowns with a practiced smile. "Too busy. Now, both of you," He turns to Jonghyun as well with a gleam in his eye. "Strip." 

* * *

"Why are you even going on this hiking trip? Your athleticism isn't exactly something to brag about," Aron hears Minhyun's familiar chuckle in response and he rolls his eyes. "You really are whipped for Daniel, it's kind of disgusting." 

_"I could say the same for you and Jonghyun but you always deny it."_ Came Minhyun's voice on speakerphone. Aron just glares at his phone even if he knows Minhyun can't see it. 

"We're friends. Nothing more and nothing less. Besides," He finishes washing his hands and pats them dry before taking his phone back to his room. "I'm too busy for a romantic relationship." 

_"Yeah. The brilliant Doctor Aron Kwak-Frankenstein is too busy with his lab rats and fake blood that he can't go out on even one date. Your life is so tragic, Aron."_

"I would much rather spend my time being at the helm of scientific breakthroughs that could change the world than go bowling on Tuesday with some half-wit who can barely spell his own name." Aron says as he plops into his chair in front of his study desk, laptop already up and running. "Seriously. There are other things I could make use of my time with than dating." 

_"Well, you're missing out. What's a Nobel prize without someone to share that joy with?"_

Aron scoffs. "I've got Dongho. He can be joyous enough for the both of us." 

_"Yeah, but Dongho is not your boyfriend. Half the time you even treat him like an assistant."_

"I do _not_ treat him like an assistant!" Aron says, affronted as he goes through the day's footage. "When have I _ever_ treated him like an assistant?" 

_"Do you really want me to answer that question?"_ Even through the phone, Aron could hear his eye roll. _"I've got video evidence of every time you treated him like an assistant. He's even resorted to saying 'Yes, Master' jokingly. It's because you don't treat him like an equal."_

Aron clicks through a few of the footage, humming as what Minhyun just said processes in his brain. "In my defense, we're not equal. In intelligence, in intuition, in critical thinking, everything. We've _never_ been equal."

_"Alright, let me rephrase that."_ It takes a few minutes before Minhyun speaks again. _"You treat him like he's inferior to you. In every possible way."_ Aron stops clicking through videos then, leaning back in his seat with a soft huff. Well… That's certainly something he wasn't expecting to hear. Aron isn't a man who is particularly empathetic. In fact, a lot of people like to deem him an asshole. But he always chalks it up to the fact that no one really gets him. The one person who did get him was his mom. And she died when he was in high school.

He has four friends. Friends that don't necessarily get him but people that understand where he's coming from. Sometimes they can be oblivious to the way he thinks, and admittedly… He is too. They're the ones who remind him how _normal_ people think. He's not a completely closed off basket case. He has feelings too. Sometimes… He forgets how his actions affect others. 

That's why he has Minhyun. He's always so blunt with him. Whenever he thinks Aron did something ethically wrong, he's there to slap him and tell him straight to his face. Not in a literal sense… but more of metaphorical. He's a man of science and logic, so a lot of the time he doesn't pay too much mind to ethics and morality. If it gets the job done, who cares if someone's heart stops in the process? It's all in the name of science. Science is exact. Science gives him answers. And if science can't give him answers, he takes it upon himself to find them. 

Minhyun is a man of the arts. He's a film major who oftentimes doesn't know what the bone is made out of but knows exactly how to make the lighting in the laboratory look natural. He stares blankly at Aron whenever he talks about hemoglobin or the properties of synthetic organs, but he knows how to fix his computer whenever it acts up. He has skills that Aron doesn't have, and he's more in depth with his emotions as well. Dongho jokes sometimes that if Aron's friends were his body parts, Minhyun would definitely be Aron's heart. 

And Minhyun is right. He does tend to treat his friends as inferior to him. Even if, intellectually, it's very much true, he knows that being empathetic is something he still needs to work on. 

"Yeah… You're right, Min. I'll call him later to say sorry or something."

Minhyun hums in approval. _"Good boy. Maybe you can even participate in one of_ his _experiments next time."_

"Now, that's pushing it. His experiments are shi—" He pauses abruptly, biting his lip in frustration. Empathy. Yes. Be more empathetic. "His experiments are… Unconventional." He says through gritted teeth.

_"You'll never know, big guy. He might have an experiment that you could use one day."_

Aron laughs, taking great care to make it not sound too condescending. "Sure. His slime molds will be _revolutionary_." 

Minhyun giggles through the phone, putting an easy smile on Aron's face. Honestly, what would he be without Minhyun? 

* * *

The last thing Aron ever heard from Minhyun was his laugh. 

It still rang in his ears, even now, as he's surrounded by the wretched sobs of his loved ones. He can't bring himself to cry, even if his heart is breaking on the inside. The whole service is so quick that he doesn't notice that everyone has left the room except for him and Jonghyun. He's holding Minhyun's camera, the one Minki bought him for his 18th birthday. He jokingly told them to use it to film his funeral in case he dies first. Aron clutches at the fabric of his dress pants, finding the energy to breathe. 

He closes his eyes, going through the autopsy report that the doctor gave him after he demanded for it. He may have used vague threats but he needed _answers_. Only a fellow doctor could give them to him. But still… As he goes through the report in his mind, he can't shake this feeling of… _it's not enough_. 

_During his descent, an unknown geological event caused a disruption in an overhanging ledge. Triggering an avalanche. The deceased fell several hundred feet. High velocity impact resulted in severe traumatic blunt force injuries, numerous skeletal fractures, and perforated viscera. Which in turn caused internal hemorrhaging as well as widespread dermal avulsion._

Minhyun was pronounced dead at the scene. No further attempts were made to resuscitate. That's what makes Aron angry. _No further attempts_. There were several ways, as far as he was concerned, that could have potentially saved Minhyun's life. He's talked about everything from artificial blood to synthetic organs to electrophysiology… Any or even all of those things could have potentially saved Minhyun from dying. It just isn't fair that no one thought of the possibilities. 

Aron gets up and leaves the funeral room, wiping away whatever tears decided to fall down his face. He has to get to the lab. He needs to go through his notes from all his projects and experiments. He might have to write a few proposals to Dr. Tyler for approval but what matters now is that he gets to the lab. He needs to distract himself with work. Being surrounded by death is stifling. He doesn't notice anyone following him until he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

"Aron, where are you going?" It was Jonghyun. 

"The lab. I have some work to do," He is just about to walk away when Jonghyun blocks the exit. "Jonghyun please… Get out of the way." 

"Not until you tell me why you're going to the lab when one of your best friends just _died_." Aron winces at the word _died_. He hates it. He's hated it since he was a teenager. He doesn't like associating death with Minhyun because Minhyun was anything but death. Death meant an abrupt end, no hope, darkness, despair, loneliness. Minhyun was… _is_ the opposite of death. He's life personified. He's sunshine, soft smiles, film strips, and happiness. 

Dongho was right. Minhyun was Aron's heart. He's the reason he has been kept sane for this long. Now he's gone. And he doesn't like that one bit. 

"Come with me," He whispers, soft but with a fierce determination. "I need Minhyun's camera for this." 

Jonghyun hesitates but sighs in utter defeat. It's a sigh that Aron was familiar with. It's because Aron always wins against Jonghyun. No matter what, Jonghyun never finds himself angry or annoyed with him. Aron is eternally grateful for him. They were the ones who were friends the longest. Aside from Minhyun, Jonghyun is probably his most loyal friend. One time when they were little, they amputated a squirrel in Aron's backyard and Jonghyun lost the squirrel when Aron left to get bandages. So that Aron wouldn't get sad, he captured another squirrel and told him that the squirrel's leg grew again. The science was crazy but it made Aron smile. 

Aron knows, because of that incident, that Jonghyun would do anything to make Aron happy. 

So with that thought in mind, Aron waits for him to step aside before he starts brisk walking towards the university. Jonghyun follows closely behind with Minhyun's camera tucked safely in his camera bag. 

* * *

He continues the webshow with all the editing now done by Aron so the updates are much slower than normal. Minhyun usually edits in lightning speed that he's able to upload the latest episode weekly. But with doing the experiments, writing up reports, and redoing all the projects they've done so far to perfection, editing his webshow was always the last thing on his mind. 

He's also caught himself saying Minhyun's name whenever he wants a particular edit during filming. He always does it mid-filming rather than after the whole shoot was over because ideas always come to him in the moment and he's way too busy to write any editing notes on the spot. Sometimes Minhyun kept those parts in the show, says it makes the show feel more raw and relatable. Aron never got it until he rewatched his videos just to get a feel of Minhyun's editing style. But it's never quite the same. 

"Minhyun, can you make this part a little…" He starts to say before he trails off as usual, noticing with a heavy heart the empty space behind the camera. "Never mind… I'll do it."

He stares at Minhyun's space for a little longer before he goes up to the camera and turns it off. Aron was stupid enough to even bring Minhyun's director chair. The one he got him for Christmas. It makes the void left behind by Minhyun even stronger and Aron struggles to catch his breath. He clutches his chest, a physical reminder for him to breathe deeply. He's alone in the lab even though he usually isn't because Minhyun always kept him company. 

He decides, after a few minutes of just breathing, that he needs to review his footage and continue editing the episode he should have uploaded a week ago. Aron shakily takes out the memory card from the camera before he pulls out his laptop from his bag. He usually edits in his dorm room but the lab's overall atmosphere makes him a little more relaxed. Every time he goes back to his dorm, he just remembers the last phone call he had with Minhyun and… He doesn't get much sleep in there. 

He starts by organizing all of the latest footage into the folders Minhyun already conveniently made for him way before they started filming the show. Aron smiles just the tiniest bit, remembering Minhyun's persistence that they keep to a tight filming schedule so that they make use of their time wisely. Minhyun's neat freak tendencies actually translate well into video editing. Aron was in complete awe how clean his editing of the web show was before he died. 

Just as he's about to organize the footage, he decides to look through the other folders of past episodes. He doesn't want to throw the footage away as it could be used in university archives or as evidence of his genius to the Nobel Prize board. Even Minhyun told him to never delete footage unless absolutely necessary. As he goes through the different files, he starts to notice a certain pattern with his experiments. 

_Folder Name: The Truth About Fake Blood_

_File Name: E. COLI Gene Splicing_Transcript_

_00:00:58 - 00:01:26_

_**ARON** "Now some of you may have heard of E. Coli but mainly in a negative context. But it's actually very useful to us! For starters, it's an amazing biotechnology platform. Over the past 40 years, we've learned how to use it to synthesize all sorts of things, from vaccines to biofuels just by altering its DNA. Today, I'm gonna show you how we use gene splicing to get E. Coli to create hemoglobin, the key component of blood."_

_Folder Name: Magnetic Brain Stimulation_

_File Name: Electromagnetic Induction_Transcript_

_00:01:02 - 00:01:17_

_**DONGHO** "By using electromagnetic induction, scientists can either enhance or suppress parts of the human brain." _

_**ARON** "In today's experiment, I'm going to give Dongho a task and then apply transcranial stimulation to related parts of his brain, and monitor the results."_

_Folder Name: Mind Control Rats_

_File Name: Optogenetics_Transcript_

_00:00:52 - 00:01:30_

_**ARON** "Last time we showed you how brain circuits can be manipulated using high powered magnets. However, the problem with magnets and even electrodes placed inside the brain is that they generally affect multiple neural circuits, not just one. So, as a tool, they're not very precise. _

_**DONGHO** "But optogenetics gives us that precision by allowing us to select individual neurons by using a beam of light." _

_**DR. TYLER** "It's not easy though." _

_**DONGHO** "True. First, you've gotta put the DNA for a light sensitive protein into a virus. Then the virus has to affect the targeted neuron so they'll express the protein on their cell membranes." _

_**ARON** "Then the protein has to excite or silence the neurons when exposed to just the right frequency of light." _

_Folder Name: Frozen Rats_

_File Name: Cryopreservation_Transcript_

_00:00:51 - 00:01:30_

_**DONGHO** "Now, I know it sounds simple but using cryonics to freeze, revive, and then cure a patient has never been successfully accomplished."_

_**ARON** "Which is why we're using a much smaller, lower risk specimen, and why Minhyun is here to document this potentially historic occasion."_

_**DONGHO** "Now, right after his heart stopped, we pumped his body with a specially formulated cryoprotectant. It's kind of like antifreeze for your blood."_

_**ARON** "This ensures that ice crystals won't form, which would cause damage at the cellular and molecular levels. Now, we just have to wait for Terrence's body temperature to rise and then we can resuscitate." _

_Folder Name: A Great and Sudden Change_

_File Name: Save Minhyun_Transcript_

_00:02:21 - 00:02:58_

_**ARON** "Hundreds of years of bad theories and junk science have made us think about life and death as an either-or proposition. But as we've already seen, life isn't simply black or white. Biology is messy. I'm cleaning up after it all the time. To blithely declare Minhyun beyond saving without even considering other possibilities is like dumping his remains in a shallow grave. _

_**JONGHYUN** "Wasn't he 'pronounced dead at the scene?'" _

_**ARON** "Well, I don't know, Jonghyun. Let's consider some steps a more adept, ingenuitive practitioner could've taken."_

_Folder Name: A Great and Sudden Change_

_File Name: Cowards_Transcript_

_00:04:40 - 00:05:22_

_**ARON** "Just an overview of his injuries and a review of some hypothetical treatments." _

_**DR. TYLER** "Treatments?" _

_**ARON** "Well, I've looked at the coroner's report, and I—" _

_**DR. TYLER** "Oh, you can study the coroner's report all you want, there's nothing anyone could have done." _

_**ARON** "Why does everyone automatically jump to that conclusion?" _

_**DR. TYLER** "Because Minhyun is now beyond the limitations of science and medicine." _

_**ARON** "Then science and medicine need to expand." _

_**DR. TYLER** "Beyond death?" _

_**ARON** "Death is just another disease, Dr. Tyler. A disease that doctors are too scared to treat." _

Aron sits back after reading through his transcripts and re-watching all his footage related to the transcripts. His mind starts racing with endless possibilities, with experiments that can be improved and projects that can start anew. He stares at the laptop, paused right now on the latest episode of when he reveals to the viewers of Minhyun's death. He thought, at the time, that he was speaking through emotion. But after watching all his videos and reading the transcripts again, he realizes that's not the case at all. 

Aron never speaks because of emotion alone. He _never_ does that. He's a man of science, first and foremost, and he always has a reason to speak about things. He never talks about anything he deems unimportant or dwells on certain experiments that are of no use to him. The grief of losing Minhyun aside, Aron spoke of ways, sound _scientific_ ways, that could have saved Minhyun's life. He didn't expand on it then as he was almost yelling at Dr. Tyler about how scientists and doctors were so damn _scared_ of what could be. If they weren't, they could be expanding science and medicine to a whole different level. One that transcends the impossible and blurs the line between life and death. 

He was so angry that the doctors and scientists couldn't save Minhyun. He was so angry that they never considered the possibilities that could have actually saved him. No one ever considered the alternatives. 

No one except _him_. 

* * *

Dongho was always the first to dispute his ideas. Today was no exception. 

Is the idea crazy? Yes. It's 60% practically impossible. Is Aron out of his mind? There is a 70% chance of unusual brain activity probably fucking up his thought process. 

But is Aron sure it's going to work? 100%. 

"Aron, what you're asking me to do with you is… Absolutely insane." Dongho sits down on the table, slowly processing what Aron just told him. "Minhyun is dead." 

"This won't be _Minhyun_." Aron says, his voice slightly raised. Dongho watches his friend clench his fists in a spike of intense emotional distress. This is the first time Dongho has ever seen Aron so distraught. Not since Terrence the lab rat died under his experiment did he ever see Aron cry from frustration and anger. "He… It's going to be different. This will be a _new_ life. I can make a new _life_."

Even Aron has never sounded this insane. Dongho underestimated how much Minhyun's death affected Aron. When he saw him back in the lab again a few weeks ago, he seemed just like his usual self. Dongho figured that even a death of a friend wasn't going to deter Aron from continuing on with his weird experiments. But he was completely wrong. In fact, Minhyun's death basically _fueled_ Aron's feverish desire to keep working. He's even seeing Jonghyun more often these days because there are some nights that Jonghyun is the only one who can convince Aron to get some sleep. 

Never in his entire life did he imagine that this was the reason Aron has been slaving away in the lab. 

"The University has his body. He donated it for research," Aron starts pacing around the room. Dongho looks towards the camera, to the place where Minhyun usually was. It's empty, as expected, and it also hits Dongho how much he misses Minhyun too. "We can transfuse him with artificial blood and replace his skeleton with synthetic bone—"

"Okay, but what about his brain?" Dongho can't believe that he's even considering this. 

"If the damage is minimal, we salvage it. Otherwise, we find a transplant." 

"This is starting to sound a little sick, uh, let me think about this for a sec." Dongho runs his hands through his hair repeatedly, trying to will his brain cells to help him make sense out of all this. Skin grafts that are ten times more durable and damage proof than normal human skin. Synthetic bones that are over 3000 times stronger than his own. Artificial blood, replacement organs, electrophysiology, magnetic brain stimulation. Dongho just realized that everything they have been doing in the lab was leading up to this. This… Final project of Doctor Kwak-Frankenstein. 

Truth be told, Dongho is terrified of what the results could be. But at the same time… He's _very_ intrigued. 

"Okay…" Aron perks up the second Dongho speaks again. "I'll help you but I will have a say on when we can pull the plug on this. It will be on _my_ terms. No treating me like an assistant or slave. We're going to be _partners_ in this whole thing and as your partner, I have the right to say enough is enough." 

"Deal!" Aron says a little louder than Dongho was used to and he throws his arms around him unexpectedly. "Thank you, Dongho." Dongho is taken aback by the hug but he inevitably hugs back. It's nice. Aron has never hugged him before. Aron usually avoids hugs for the obvious reasons of contamination or waste of time, as he usually calls it. But this is the first time Dongho has received a hug from him. The first time he reciprocated rather than instigates.

For the first time, Dongho feels appreciated too. 

* * *

A few weeks of experiments later, the day has come. 

Aron feels as if he should be more excited about the fact that he's finally graduated, as Dongho has so kindly pointed out several times throughout the day. But even his medical license couldn't distract him from what they were going to do today. It's around midnight, everyone in the university left around a few hours ago except for a few guards that have given up watching Aron in the lab ages ago. Now they just leave him alone. Even Dr. Tyler left them to their own devices after finally convincing him to let their final experiment take place in his lab. 

A lot of paperwork and hushed tones later, and he has Minhyun's lifeless corpse wheeled to the lab. Aron stops any sort of irrational emotion from bubbling to the surface as he sets everything up for the _birthing_ process, as he so aptly called it. Dongho wants to call it the _rebirthing_ process. Minhyun, even in death, would have come up with something better. 

"We can finally call this show, Kwak-Frankenstein, MD! Isn't that great?" 

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Yay." Aron feigns excitement, albeit very poorly, and ignores the exasperated _tsk_ from Dongho while he does some last minute checks on everything. "But what's important right now is the historic moment that you all are about to witness." 

They're filming this. Of course, they are. If and _when_ something happens, Aron will be able to look back at the footage and smile because he _did it_. He made the impossible possible. He can laugh at all the naysayers up on stage as he receives numerous science awards for his revolutionary breakthrough. He can make his mom proud of everything he's achieved thus far. All for this historic moment where they—

"Bring Minhyun back to life!" Dongho interrupts his thoughts with his incessant babbling towards the camera. Aron breathes out through his nose to expel any lingering feelings of annoyance. Now is not the time to hit Dongho across the face. He has plenty of time to do that after.

"He is _not_ Minhyun. Exactly. This is something _new._ " 

Dongho puts his hands up as Aron tinkers again with a few wires and tubes that are hooked up to Minhyun's body. It's a little tough to see his old friend strapped to a table like this. When Minhyun agreed to donate his body to the university before he died, Dongho is pretty sure he didn't exactly mean for this to happen. But he knew Minhyun to always have Aron's best interests at heart, and he could very well be looking down at them, waiting for the moment he could return to them. 

Suddenly, Dongho is itching for this to work. 

"Are you sure it's safe to have all this wired up to one giant lever?" Dongho points out the cartoonishly large red switch that will send periodic electric shocks straight to Minhyun's heart. 

Aron shrugs, wiping the sweat off his brow with his sleeve. "I'm a doctor, not an engineer." 

Dongho chuckles. "Whatever you say, Dr. Kwak-Frankenstein." He knew that hearing his name like that would revitalize Aron enough to smile. A real, honest to goodness smile, that made all the sleepless nights and dead lab rats completely worth it. What Dongho would do just so Minhyun could see Aron smile like this. They look at the corpse, both thinking the exact same thing. "He'll be so proud of you, Doctor." 

Aron stares at Minhyun's body for a little longer before nodding. He places his hand on the giant red lever, not a single doubt in his mind. Dongho stays a respectable distance, watching the whole thing unfold before his eyes. Then, Aron pulls the lever down and the lights start flickering around them. Aron immediately gets his stethoscope to check for a heartbeat, and Dongho checks Minhyun's body temperature. 

"He's at 22 degrees," He manages to say before Aron interrupts him with an excited yelp.

"H-He's almost here! Dongho, it's working!" Aron's eyes flash bright with glee even among the flickering lights of the lab. Dongho watches him mumble incoherently under his breath and he could only make out the word _live_ among all the loud noises around them. "We need more power!" 

"Aron, there _isn't_ any more power!" He yells in order to be heard. "This is the only generator we have and any more could mess up the university's— ARON GET DOWN FROM THERE!" 

If anyone were to tell Dongho that he was going to see Aron straddling Minhyun and giving him chest compressions, he would have made a dirty joke to dispel the tension. But right now, he's more concerned for Aron's mental state and safety more than anything else. Aron continues to give Minhyun chest compressions, even under all this pressure he still keeps it at a steady beat. He repeatedly screams _"LIVE!"_ at the volume in which his voice is capable of. Dongho almost fears for his own life watching his friend descend into madness. 

Then, everything stops. The power goes out and the university generator turns the lights on a few seconds later. But the light in Aron's eyes is gone. He's frozen on top of Minhyun, his eyes filling with frustrated tears, and his hands still placed on Minhyun's unmoving chest. Dongho tries to approach Aron but he's unsure of how the doctor would react to physical touch. 

"It didn't work," He finally whispers and Dongho has to strain his ears to hear it. "I did _everything_ right and it didn't _work_." Dongho could feel Aron's heart breaking from where he's standing. He watches Aron climb down from the table, his legs shaking but his whole upper body tense with anger. "How could it _not_ have _worked_?" 

"H-Hey, you said so yourself that truly groundbreaking science can come from failure." Dongho uses Aron's words in order to comfort him because the only word that he truly believes in is his own. "We've made so many breakthroughs these last couple of weeks. We can make papers about this until we're 150 years old!" 

Aron rummages through his backpack, clearly not listening to anything Dongho has to say. Dongho tries not to let that bother him, as he's done so for the past 10 years of knowing the most apathetic mad genius in the world. "I already have notes about how this can be improved."

"I'm sorry… Notes? You want to do this again?" 

"Of course. Like I said, groundbreaking science comes from failure—" 

"I _literally_ just said that. Were you even liste—" 

"All you have to worry about for now, Dongho, is the fresh corpse situation. Where are we going to find another corpse?" Aron seems to be talking to himself now mostly, as if Dongho just magically disappeared into thin air. Just as Dongho is about to knock some sense into his friend, they hear a small groan. 

Both of them freeze in place. Quiet. Tense. Waiting. 

Then they hear it again. Another groan, similar to the last one but doubled in volume. Aron is the first one to turn his head to look behind him. Dongho doesn't have to look to know. Frankly, Dongho doesn't want to look because he's scared that if he looks, it's going to be more real. 

Aron looks back at him again, the light back in his eyes. _"It worked."_


	2. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doctor Kwak-Frankenstein successfully brought life back to Hwang Minhyun's body.
> 
> But at what cost?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is muuuuccxcchhh longer than the first one and I hope is more exciting too uwu
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!! 💖

Of course, Dongho volunteers to go back home immediately after they have a heated discussion over what they're going to do next. Aron knew that the thing that they created needs to go through some form of speech and movement therapy in order to understand the basics. Dongho, as expected, escaped before Aron could give him the option to stay. For a partner, he's being pretty shitty with taking in the fact that their project succeeded. 

Nevertheless, Aron gladly volunteered to stay and monitor his creation's vitals and any movements. It's about 3:30 in the morning before anything happened and Aron jumps to his feet immediately at the sign of movement. Dongho insisted that they strap him… _it_ to the table before it wakes up and Aron tried to argue that it's _not_ an animal that you should chain up. Dongho was persistent though, so to avoid further arguments, he strapped his creation to a gurney so that at least it's still sleeping on a bed.

It clearly didn't like the feeling of the restrictions so Aron was quick to be by his creation's side to calm him down. "It's okay. It's okay, I'm going to take these off and it'll be okay, I promise." He immediately removes the restraints on his creation's wrists and ankles, coaxing it to sit up. "You got it… There you go! Wow, look at you." For a split second, Aron sees Minhyun but he shakes his head. He reminds himself that this was not Minhyun. 

But… He tries to tell him his name anyway in the hopes that he'll remember. "Minhyun," Aron says while pointing at his creation's chest. "You are _Minhyun_." His creation stares at him curiously before following Aron's hand movement and poking Aron's cheek. The newly licensed doctor giggles and gently takes his creation's hand in his. Okay, maybe he won't remember his name and that's fine. He decides to try another tactic. 

"I am _Aron_. A-R-O-N. I am your _friend_." He articulates each word very slowly, making sure his creation hears every single letter sound. His creation stares at his lips as he says the words and Aron nods along as it tries to say the word friend. 

"Fffffrrrrrr…" It manages to groan. Aron nods. Progress is being made, that's good. 

"Why don't we try walking?" He makes some stomping movements with his feet before he helps his creation stand up. It takes a while, a few stumbles as its legs aren't quite used to standing just yet. And suddenly, he is able to stand with a little help from Aron's arms steadying him. Aron gently guides it and encourages it like a little baby taking its first steps. His creation follows his own footsteps with the curiosity and wonder of a child and it makes Aron's heart swell when it finally takes its first step. 

"Good job!" He automatically raises his hand for a high-five but then quickly realizes that it probably has no idea what a high-five is. So, he makes quick work to gently clap their hands together for a high-five. His creation gives him a wide smile and a groan of what sounds like utter _joy_. Aron matches its smile, happy that his creation is stable and is susceptible to learning new things with positive reinforcement. In the moment that it smiled at him, Aron really saw Minhyun's smiling face. For the first time, it didn't make his heart ache seeing him. For the first time, it felt like Minhyun was really here. 

* * *

Days later and Aron couldn't be more wrong. 

His creation attacked Dongho the second he turned on the lights. Apparently, it was extremely photosensitive at that stage and couldn't handle sudden bursts of light no matter how dim they are. It wrecked the laboratory from corner to corner and escaped the university shortly after. Aron was advised to go back home to Busan and await further instructions. Currently, he was camping out in his father's basement because his room is being used for his miniature train collection. 

Aron turns to the camera to film his intro. He always films those last ever since Minhyun died because he doesn't know what to say to the camera until he's finished his experiment. He winces slightly from the pain on his wrist, a gentle reminder to ice it later. "I'm fine, guys. Just a sprained wrist. A few cuts and bruises." He starts to say to the camera, his eyes still looking behind it out of habit. "You should see the other guy… No, seriously… have you seen the other guy? He's about six feet tall, covered in stitches and experimental skin grafts… maybe suffering from extreme existential panic? Tweet me if you do."

And the show is still going on, even if the location has changed. He's sure his viewers would want to know what's happening and he can confidently say that they have nothing to worry about. He's not particularly worried for his creation, contrary to what everyone believes. He had to reassure Jonghyun and Dongho that it would just die off somewhere because it won't have access to certain drugs that will keep it alive for a little longer before its body adapts. He's thought this through. He isn't a genius for nothing. 

"Hey, genius, mind if I come in?" Jonghyun jogs down the stairs as Aron wraps up filming for his web show. "Yikes, miniature train collection eating up space on your bed?" 

"My dad loves his tiny trains. Almost as much as he loves wearing dumb Christmas sweaters." He turns off the camera and turns to his friend. "What's up?" 

"Just wanted to see how you were doing. How's the brilliant Doctor Kwak-Frankenstein and his creature of death." Jonghyun says with a low "spooky" voice and Aron just chuckles at Jonghyun's silliness. 

"It's _not_ a creature of death. It's just… Someone." Aron trails off, wondering not for the first time how everything could have gone differently. "I kind of wished you met them."

Jonghyun smirks, bumping his shoulder until Aron pushes him away with that familiar smile. "Yeah? Well, I would have loved to meet Minhyun McDead." 

"Minhyun McDead? _That's_ the best name you could come up with?" 

"Fine, Minhyun V. Deadguy." 

"Okay, that's worse." 

"Well, I tried. But I got a smile out of you!" That he did. It's been hard to think about anything else besides his creation. He's worried for it. Even if he knows, at this point, that his creation is dead, he can't help but feel responsible for losing it. He even feels bad for just calling it a subject to his experiment. When his creation smiled after giving him a high-five, he knew that what he made was more than just a human. He knew that he created something not only groundbreaking but also something that filled a void somehow. It wasn't Minhyun. He doesn't think it could have been taught up to that point to become Minhyun. Yet, it was the closest thing he ever had to having one of his best friends come back. 

But after the whole incident where it attacked Dongho and practically wrecked the whole laboratory, Aron's been doing some hard thinking the past few days. Being home, surrounded by memorabilia of childhood memories, made him reminisce the times before medical school. Before college. When he met four boys and then suddenly he had friends for the first time. Real friends. Not friends who were friends with him because they felt bad. No. Friends that stuck by him even if he tried to push them away. Friends that told him right from wrong when he himself didn't know the difference. 

Even after all this time, none of them resent him or hate him. That's a feat Aron didn't think he could pull off. 

"Hello, is anybody home?" Came Minki's voice from the top of the stairs and Jonghyun calls for him to come down. "I went into Aron's room but all I saw were miniature trains. I entertained the thought that Aron shrunk and decided to join his brethren in tinyville."

Minki jumps down from the final step, engulfing Aron in a tight hug. "But I realized, why would the citizens of tinyville need an arrogant medical doctor who amputates squirrels and freezes his friend's toes? I figured the citizens of tinyville really dodged a bullet there." 

"The citizens of tinyville would have _loved_ me thank you very much," Aron plays along, hugging Minki back which takes even him by surprise. Maybe he just craved for his friends' affection again. After weeks of obsessing over reviving his dead friend, as cliché as it sounds, he almost forgot that he had friends who were alive and well. Minhyun probably would have slapped him across the face if he found out he only realized it about a month later. 

"The citizens of tinyville didn't need another squirrel amputating doctor, thank _you_ sir." Minki sticks his tongue out playfully. "Now, I'm here to take you out of this stuffy basement to go eat some ramen and then invite you on a camping trip next weekend." 

"Camping? Minki, you want to go camping? I thought you _hated_ camping." Jonghyun says suspiciously and Minki just rolls his eyes. 

"I _do_ hate camping. But my _crush_ doesn't. I don't want to go on this trip alone. I need one of you guys to stop me from stripping him in the middle of the mountain to prevent hypothermia or some shit."

"Actually, I quite recommend sex on the mountain for a higher body temperature in extreme survival cases. Trust me, I'm a doctor." Aron winks at him and Minki looks at him affronted. "I'd love to but no, Minki. I still have some work to do."

"But you're not at the lab," Minki says, suddenly all serious. "I thought you came back here to get away from all that and just relax." 

Aron sighs for the nth time that day, turning to Minki carefully. "I still have so much to worry about. Notes I have to organize, footage I have to edit for the web show, not to mention the paperwork that I have to go through. I've got a lot to do and I can't afford to waste time third wheel camping with you and your crush."

His friend extracts himself from their hug, his hands on his side as he scans Aron from head to toe. Aron gulps, confused and nervous as to what the hell Minki is thinking. Of all of his friends, Minki is his most unpredictable friend. He's always about adventure and spontaneity. He destroys their travel itineraries every time they go on road trips. And a lot of the time Aron can never really get a read on him. 

"Aron… I've been meaning to ask you this but… Are you okay?" Aron looks at Minki quizzically. 

"I'm completely fine. Why do you ask?" 

Minki sighs, running his hand through his hair before he stares at Aron with concern in his eyes. "It's just that… You came back here talking about the notion that you somehow revived Minhyun—" 

"It's _not_ Minhyun—" 

"—My point being… Are you sure you saw what you _think_ you saw?"

Aron steps back a bit, his mouth open in utter bewilderment. Minki crosses his arms, and Aron just wants to understand why his own best friend doesn't believe in him. They have the footage. He was _there_. Dongho was there too. Even Dr. Tyler saw it before it escaped the university. Weeks and weeks of research and experiments and Minki thinks he _faked_ the whole thing. 

"You think I'm crazy," He comes to that conclusion because there is no other reason why Minki wouldn't believe him. "You think I made the whole thing up… for what, Minki? For attention? For fame? I made a potential superhuman in a lab. I watched it take its first steps and you think I would _lie_ to you about that?" 

Minki puts his hands up in defense, knowing how defensive Aron can get over his experiments. But Minhyun was more than just an experiment. "Videos can be doctored! And people see things when they're grieving." 

"This isn't some grief-induced mega hallucination, Minki!" He raises his voice, trying to get Minki to listen to him. "I _saw_ him. I _created_ him and if you don't believe me then that's on _you_. Not me." 

Minki stares at him, the fight leaving his body almost immediately. Jonghyun just looks at them from the staircase with a million and one thoughts running through his head. Aron is already starting to feel the beginnings of an anxiety attack. So, he turns away and faces the wall, breathing as deeply as he could to avoid another scene.

"Just leave. Both of you… Please." 

* * *

**_Across certain areas in Seoul, a monstrous creature was spotted roaming the streets at night. Many witness accounts say that it was almost 6 feet tall._ **

**_Several eye witness accounts have reported more sightings of this mysterious creature moving away from Seoul. Some even say that they hear it calling for someone's name. No one is able to pinpoint the exact name just yet._ **

**_Reportings of The Creature state that it is now heading southbound. Possibly towards the outskirts of other major South Korean cities. We urge the citizens to stay vigilant and to call the authorities to report any other sightings._ **

"God, I really should have named it when I had the chance." Aron mumbles as he goes through articles on the internet all pertaining to his creation. Or _the creature_. It's dumb. It's a really fucking dumb name but that's what he gets for not naming it before everything went haywire. 

He lets his eyes linger to the side, where Jonghyun is pinning up newspaper clippings on their makeshift evidence board. Aron allows himself to smile. It kind of reminds him of the time they used to play elaborate murder mysteries in the summer before high school. They would search for cold unsolved cases on the internet and try to make their own theories about them. One time, Aron actually solved one of the mysteries but no one at the police station would believe a 15-year-old. But, it didn't matter to him if the police believed him. It only mattered that Jonghyun believed in him. 

Still, it makes him wonder how his creation… _The Creature_ could have survived this whole time. The only way he would have survived is if he found a steady resource of blood transfusions, antibiotics and antifungals for any secondary infections, and intravenous nutrition from the IVs in the cooler. He wouldn't have… He _shouldn't_ have lived for more than 48 hours without all those things. He even told Dongho all of this when he called the other day and he agreed almost immediately. Aron didn't like it when things didn't make sense and the creature surviving without his own intervention made _absolutely_ no sense at all. 

"Hey, why don't we pin this up? It sort of fits the pattern. _Man identifies the creature as a mutated Chupacabra_. Pretty cool, huh?" Jonghyun waves the newspaper clipping in front of Aron's face, giggling all the while. Aron purses his lips in slight annoyance and turns in his seat to half-glare at his best friend. 

"Chupacabra, really? Don't you dare pin it up there—" 

"Too late, I'm pinning it up!" Aron just watches helplessly as Jonghyun puts the Chupacabra nonsense on his perfectly organized evidence board. He's just about to tell him to put it down when Jonghyun turns to him with a wide, goofy smile. Aron sighs. It's hard to contradict Jonghyun when he looks that happy. It's been a while since Jonghyun has been this genuinely excited about anything he's ever done, especially since he was the first one to gush over the name _The Creature._ It makes his dumb best friend smile. Maybe the name wasn't so bad if he got to see Jonghyun smile like that. 

"Hey, so I was thinking we should see a movie later." Jonghyun takes the seat next to Aron and places his chin on his shoulder. He looks at the screen with him, laughing at a few of the article names that were clearly click bait. "Get out of the basement for a little while. I heard Spider-Man: Far From Home is going to have a midnight screening tonight. What do you think?" 

"Can't. Busy." Aron says a little too automatically and he can _feel_ Jonghyun's pout from his position on his shoulder. 

"Aw, come on! It could do you some good to get out of here and just think about other things—" 

"I can't think about other things when my creature is loose. Jonghyun, I thought you were going to take this whole thing seriously with me—" 

"—And I _am_ taking it seriously!" He stands up, choosing now to just look at the evidence board. Aron turns in his seat, only to be greeted by Jonghyun's tense sweater-clad back. Aron bites his lip in contemplation. "It's just that ever since you came back here, all we talked about was Minhyun—" 

"He's _not_ Minhyun." Aron says for what feels like the millionth time already. Jonghyun sighs. 

"Okay uh… Arthur Corpsingtton the third. He's all we talked about! Would it kill you to just let it all go for one night to relax?" Aron tries not to dwell on the fact that Jonghyun just came up with an even worse name for the creature as he stands up to get Jonghyun to face him. He knows his heart is in the right place. Jonghyun always did wear his heart on his sleeve, easily susceptible to the most damage. So Aron, a lot of the time, tries to toughen it up. Because if his heart is always going to be on his sleeve, it might as well wear a suit of armor. 

"You want your old friend back, huh?" Aron says, bumping his shoulder with Jonghyun's. The familiar gesture causes him to smile the tiniest bit. Aron feels warmth spreading in his chest at the fond memories flooding back to him of just the two of them, in this very basement, being kids without a single care in the world. Maybe… sometimes… Aron wants those moments back too. "Where we eat buckets of popcorn and watch Star Wars?" 

"Can you blame me? It's been a while since you've been home. And besides," Jonghyun steps closer a bit and Aron stays rooted to the spot. He stares right into Jonghyun's eyes and he can't quite make out the emotions swirling within them. He still isn't as empathetic as he'd like to be but he's definitely working on it. He knows Jonghyun is feeling something. That's a start, at least. "If I had to choose between Aron and the brilliant Doctor Kwak-Frankenstein," 

Aron's breath hitches for a millisecond when Jonghyun leans in a little closer. "I'd choose Aron. Every time." 

Aron had no time to dwell on this new feeling bubbling up in his chest as Minki bounds down the stairs, effectively killing the moment. Or was it a moment? It's times like these that Aron really wishes Minhyun were still here. He's terrible at reading moments. "Camping at the mountains! Come on, please come with me." 

"Not happening, cassanova." 

Minki rolls his eyes again and slings his arm around Aron's shoulder with an exaggerated sigh. "Well, it was worth a shot. Jonghyun, you in?" 

Jonghyun immediately shakes his head. "Don't drag me into your sex camping. I want no part in the predictable trauma I will go through." 

"Nah, you just want to stay here with Aron. I get tha—OW! _DON'T_ HIT ME!" Aron looks at both of his friends in confusion while they whisper and bicker right in front of him. As he continues to stare at them, he notices the small but still noticeable blush on Jonghyun's cheeks. Aron feels himself blushing too and he doesn't know why. Maybe he's starting to be a bit more empathetic. God, who knows? Minhyun would have had an answer to this… 

_I could say the same for you and Jonghyun but you always deny it._

Aron shakes his head. It must be the faulty basement heating vent. 

* * *

"We should have told him." 

"I think you know what he would have said."

"Yeah. But we should have told him." 

"Well, it's too late now. We need to figure out where he's heading." 

Dongho kicks a nearby wall roughly, far too frustrated with himself to feel any pain. He really should have told Aron everything. It fills him with guilt that he hid all of this from him. It's wrong. From the escape to the cover story to the hypothetical situations he kept asking him, it all just felt wrong. Every time he called Aron to ask about the creature, he felt guilt rising up in his chest and it almost makes him sick how twisted he's become. 

He feels even more sick now, as he stares at the broken cage they kept the creature in. Fuck. How's Aron going to react when he finds out that they kept the creature in a cage? Aron talked about his first interaction with the creature as if he were his newborn son. It's almost as if he was fond of it. Dongho's heart hurts even more. The bars are twisted, some even have teeth marks, and all it left behind was a little picture frame. Dongho approaches the cage to salvage the picture from the frame and his heart drops when he sees it. 

It's a picture of Minki and Aron last Christmas vacation. 

Then it clicks and Dongho feels bile rising up his throat. 

Dongho turns to Dr. Tyler, who's speaking to one of the university board members in hushed tones. "D-Dr. Tyler?" His professor turns to look at him, an eyebrow arched in concern and his eyes widen when Dongho shows him the picture in his hands.

"I think I know where he's going." 

* * *

It's been five days since Minki went on his camping slash hiking trip with his crush. Aron wouldn't be worried at all under any other situation. Minki likes to disappear on wild adventures every now and then. One time, he called them from Russia out of absolutely nowhere, said he just _felt_ like going to Russia. But this wasn't just any other situation. Jonghyun's worried expression as he talks on the phone says it all. 

Minki's camping trip was only supposed to last 2 days. He said so himself. No matter how spontaneous Minki gets, when he says something will only be this long, it _will_ be that long. Five days have passed and there has been no sign of Minki. Even his crush returned without him, absolutely distraught with losing Minki in the mountains. 

Jonghyun hangs up, running his hand across his face in worry. Aron tries to reason with Jonghyun, even if his own words are only 59% convincing even to his own ears. "Minki's always been adventurous…" 

"Yeah, but not _reckless_. Where could he have gone?" Jonghyun starts pacing 

Aron glances at his evidence board, a very wrong yet very insistent gut feeling rearing its ugly head. No. That's… That can't be the case. But Aron sees no other way for this to happen. "Where were they hiking?" 

Jonghyun still sounds distracted as he answers Aron's question, pacing back and forth even more. "Jangsan Mountain. W-Why?"

Aron didn't want to see it. But it was _there_. Right there on his evidence board, among the red string where they connected the creature's sightings, was Jangsan Mountain. Aron tries to tamper down his anxiety again. He doesn't want to believe it himself but it's staring right at him. And he doesn't like it at all. 

"It fits the pattern." 

Jonghyun stops pacing and walks over to cover the evidence board. Aron is taken aback because Jonghyun looked so… _angry_. Jonghyun _never_ got angry. "I'm _not_ in the mood to play FBI agents right now."

Aron wished he was playing. Aron wished they were 10 years old again, shooting plastic guns, and amputating injured squirrels. He wished this was all a dream that he would wake up from. He wished he could just open his eyes, walk into the lab, and see Minhyun smiling at him from behind the camera. He wished, for the first time in his entire life dedicated to science, that _none_ of this were real. Jonghyun's phone buzzed in his pocket again and Aron wished he didn't already know who's on the other line. 

When Jonghyun hung up again, his face was pale. Aron didn't want to look at him. He knows. He knows what was said on the other line. But he doesn't want to believe it. He doesn't want it to be real. 

"The police need to speak to us," Jonghyun says, carefully but shakily as he holds on to Aron's shoulders to steady himself. 

"Because Minki is missing?" He asks, knowing full well that he sounds like a child. Aron watches a single tear run down Jonghyun's face. Suddenly, Aron couldn't breathe. 

"They found him." 

* * *

He hasn't changed out of his black funeral attire since yesterday because he went straight to his basement to go through all his evidence and past footage again. He _wants_ this to make sense. He's a goddamn scientist. He begged the forensic investigator for any information that he could get. He learned that his neck was snapped with tremendous force and the police ruled out any possibility that a human could have done this. But Aron knew better. No human could have done this. However, Minhyun… his _creature_ wasn't human. 

The nature of the crime and the location that fits the pattern of the so-called Creature only leads to the logical conclusion that it was his creation that murdered Minki. 

This was all the work of Kwak-Frankenstein's Monster. 

He hides his head in his arms. He doesn't even feel like he deserves his mother's name. Tears started to fill in his eyes as the mortifying fact that he's lost two of the most important people in his life hits him like a freight train. He was so caught up on proving everyone wrong, showing them that limitations can be pushed to beyond their imaginations, that he didn't realize the exact reason why limitations are set in the first place. 

He should have realized a long time ago that death is a disease that should be left untreated. 

This was all his fault. He created the monster that killed his best friend. A man with his dead friend's face killed Minki and he's absolutely sure of it. But of course, nobody was going to listen to him. They all laughed at him when he proposed that it was a murder rather than a slip and fall. He was so _angry_ at the police and the scientists that dismissed him. It reminded him of the anger he felt when Minhyun first died. But this one was different. He was not only angry at _them_. He was angry at _himself_. How he let everything get to his head, this notion that he could have saved Minhyun. He should have known that Minhyun was beyond saving. 

Jonghyun finds him a few hours later, already wearing his favorite black hoodie and comfortable jeans. "Hey," he manages to say, not knowing what else he could say at this time.

"Do you hate me?" Aron asks immediately, looking up from where he was hiding his face at his last remaining best friend. "You adored Minki and my creature killed him. You should hate me." 

"I _don't_ hate you. What are you on about?" 

"It's all my fault he's dead." 

"You couldn't have seen this happening—" 

"And it _happened_! Minki is dead because of _my_ monster. Why _don't_ you hate me?" He's screaming now because he wants Jonghyun to hate him. It's the only logical conclusion out of all this. First, he tries to reanimate Minhyun's corpse, a man beyond saving, and he is let loose. Next, the very same reanimated corpse murders his friend in cold blood. Of _course_ Aron didn't think any of these possibilities through. Because he thought he would succeed and then be able to control his new creation. He was arrogant, selfish, and completely drunk on the power of creating new life from nothing.

There's no other logical reaction for Jonghyun to have besides pure hatred for him. 

"Scream at me! Use any curse word in the book! God _fucking_ damn it, Jonghyun, just _hate_ me!" He's crying now, every negative emotion finally spilling over after years of repression. It hurts. His whole entire being hurts from this whole ordeal, of two of his best friends dying and he's just about to lose another one.

"Aron…" Jonghyun carefully approaches Aron, placing his hands on his shoulders again to ground him. Aron doesn't stop the tears running down his face. Aron doesn't have the energy to push Jonghyun away either. To him, it's a miracle Jonghyun even came here. To him, it's irrational that Jonghyun would even talk to him and he wants to know why. "I think you know that I could have possibly stopped you at any point in time."

"Why didn't you?" He manages to say through his tears and Jonghyun looks at him in exasperation. As if it was completely obvious. 

"Because I _knew_ how much it meant to you! I watched your videos and… you wanted it _so_ bad and I wanted it _for_ you. So I looked the other way," Aron's breathing slows down at that, none of this making sense still in his brain. "Against all my better judgment." 

Aron's eyes soften and so does Jonghyun's, brand new emotions emerging that Aron can't quite pinpoint. How can something that makes absolutely no sense make perfect sense when Jonghyun says it? That same warm, tingly sensation arises again. The one that he felt when Jonghyun leaned closer to him. It's still the strangest feeling in the world but he finds himself liking it. Being this close to Jonghyun, knowing that… He really will never leave him behind. Despite all his fuck-ups and all the times Aron ignored him for work, Jonghyun never complained or left his side. 

A lot of things still don't make sense. But his bond with Jonghyun… it's the _only_ thing that makes perfect sense right now. 

"I'll go talk to the police for you. Maybe they'll listen to me—" 

“Don't get yourself involved—"

Jonghyun hugs him to shut him up. Aron freezes mid-sentence, suddenly hyper aware of the new cologne that Jonghyun is wearing. It's nice. He smells like coconuts. "I have to try, Aron. I can't just _stand_ here and do nothing." 

When they pull away, Aron is blushing again. He really needs to tell his dad to fix the heating vent in the basement. Any sort of close physical contact with Jonghyun results in blood rushing to the palest parts of his face, that can't be normal. Jonghyun smiles at him then, his own blush coloring his cheeks. As he starts to walk away, Aron finds himself instinctively reaching out for him. 

He manages to grab his hoodie sleeve but when Jonghyun turned back to look at him, he suddenly didn't know what to say. Why did he do that? Weird. "Be careful." 

Jonghyun smiles at him reassuringly. "Hey, it's me. I'm always careful." 

* * *

_"YOU KEPT HIM IN A CAGE?!"_

Aron starts to feel sick to his stomach as he processes everything Dongho just told him. His creature came back to the lab. Dongho and Dr. Tyler were looking after him and pumped his body with all the essential fluids Aron stupidly told Dongho about over the phone. And now he's on his way to possibly murder Aron and they want him to _run away_? Bullshit. 

No. Running away is not an option. It's _never_ an option. With every challenge and adversary that Aron has faced in his lifetime, he's never backed down from it. With every wall he hits, he breaks them down. With every impossible, he pushes for the possible. Even when he failed, he always got back up. Running away from this superhuman being that he created will just go against _everything_ he's ever stood for in the name of science. 

He created this monster. It's only right that he kills it. 

"Okay, wait, _kill_ it? How do you plan to kill it when it's literally unkillable?" Dongho frantically asks as Aron gathers up all the weapons his father kept in the basement. He doesn't know how to kill it yet, but he knows that he has to. "I think you should consider other possibilities here, Doc." 

" _Other possibilities_? He _killed_ my best friend!" Dongho cowers slightly in fear, still not used to Aron's more erratic form. "What other possibilities should there be?" He approaches Dongho with a newfound anger. " _Why_ , Dongho? You gave him transfusions. You kept him in a fucking _cage_. You aggravated him more than ever. You _knew_ what he was capable of. _Why_ did you do this?" 

"I-I didn't have a choice!" 

"Yes you _did_! You could have said _no_! You could have let him _die_. Why did you save him?" 

"I did it for _you!"_ Aron steps back, even more confused than ever. Dongho is only a few inches taller than him but he still likes making himself look smaller than Aron. "I did it for _us_. So that we could still have a second chance at success." 

Aron shakes his head in disbelief. He doesn't like this. He's staring at a complete stranger as far as he's concerned. This isn't the Dongho he knew. Minhyun's death affected him too, even worse than Aron could have imagined.

"Success…" Aron turns back to his evidence board because looking at Dongho, a man he thought was his real friend, hurts a bit too much right now. Dongho still sounds insistent even with his back turned on him. It makes Aron's blood boil even more. 

"And we can _still_ succeed! If we can just capture Minhyun, get him back to the lab, and keep him properly sedated, we can just pick up right where we left off—" 

"My best friend is _dead_." Aron cuts Dongho off with a soft but commanding tone. "And you've been lying to me for weeks… Why would I agree to this?" 

"Best friend, huh?" Aron feels another spike of anger. "You really had to pull the best friend card? Was I even on the shortlist?" 

"This is _serious!_ " Aron turns to look at him again, eyes blazing. Dongho steps back in surprise. 

"I'm sorry! When I'm nervous, I make dumb jokes."

Aron slaps Dongho across the face, restraining himself from full on beating him up. Aron knows his own limitations now, Dongho could easily beat him up if he wanted to. But he thinks he's got his point across and Dongho wouldn't dare lay a finger on him even if he wanted to. He glares at him as he recovers from quite a hearty slap, and crosses his arms, willing Dongho to try and make another excuse. 

It takes a while for Dongho to speak again, knowing that whatever else he's going to say next is going to make or break him. Aron watches as Dongho carefully rights himself up and looks at Aron in the eye. "Look, I think Minhyun may have… Imprinted on you." 

Aron raises an eyebrow in question. " _Imprinted_?" 

Dongho nods slowly. "Every time we tried to talk to him, he would yell out your name—" 

Aron turns away again, tampering down the flames of anxiety before it burns him. "I can't hear this." 

"Look, _you're_ the one Minhyun wants."

That's when it clicks for him. He's never going to be able to convince Dongho that he doesn't want to capture Minhyun and keep him for further testing. He's too far gone and Aron can't pull him back. He looks back at his evidence board, at the big red pin that marks his current location in Busan, the place where Minhyun will go next. He scans all the newspaper clippings pinned to the board, even at the stupid chupacabra headline Jonghyun put there for laughs. 

He realizes then that he has to take responsibility for his actions. He can't convince Dongho of doing what _he_ wants. Who knows what he and Dr. Tyler have up their sleeves if he defies them again? No. He'll play along. He'll pretend to be on their side. 

Then, when the moment is right, he'll kill Minhyun.

* * *

Days have passed and they haven't found him yet. 

Aron is predictably frustrated. They've scoured every area that Minhyun could be that was relatively close to his neighborhood. Up until now, the creature traveled exclusively at night and stuck to low populated areas. So he traveled among the mountains and through forests most likely. But they've scoured every area that the creature could possibly go through next every night the past week and nothing came up. 

At this point, Aron wishes his creature dropped dead somewhere so that he wouldn't have to kill him. He doesn't know what he'll do if he finally comes face to face with a monster that _wears_ Minhyun's face. He doesn't think he'll look him in the eye. 

"Night four was a complete failure," He says to the camera, pursing his lips as he takes off his gloves in frustration. He has to continue this show. He figured that if he died trying, it would be documented for everyone to see. Everyone would finally see that he's not crazy and understand the fatal mistakes he's done. Besides, his viewers are doing a fantastic job helping him find the monster as well. It's a weird internet cult following he's starting to appreciate. "No sightings of the creature anywhere. And honestly, I don't know where else to look." He turns to his evidence board, tracing the creature trail with his finger carefully. 

"He could be going through this park… But that would render him exposed," He traces the trail again, running possible open areas that his creation could have gone through. "He could be getting bolder, knowing that there are no other pathways to my neighborhood without raising too much suspicion. But what we do know is that he is on his way to me. _How_ he's going to do it… I'm not completely sure."

He looks at the camera again, biting his lip in thought. He'll probably be able to upload this on schedule, considering he didn't find the Creature. But it still got him thinking. Who knows if this is the last episode of Kwak-Frankenstein, MD?

"Hey, Jonghyun…" He starts to say with a lot more hesitation than he was used to. A video letter… How dumb, huh? But he knows that Jonghyun watches these videos and, quite frankly, he's the only true friend he has left. Maybe he can dedicate this episode to him. "If I wasn't so busy trying to protect you, maybe we could've—" He hesitates again, shaking his head almost immediately. He feels that familiar blush crawl up his skin. He realizes for a split second that maybe it isn't the heating vent's fault this time. "Uh… Never mind." and he turns back to the evidence board. 

He's way too distracted by coming up with new plans to capture his monster that he didn't notice the door of the basement opening. He figured it was his dad coming down to give him dinner. He hasn't eaten with him at the dinner table lately, maybe he can join him this time. 

"Hey, dad I'll join you for di—" He's cut off by a very familiar groan and heavy footsteps. Aron looks to the camera, wondering if he'll make it out alive today to post next week's episode. 

_"Frank….en….stein…."_

Aron's breath hitches in his throat, his heart racing, and his palms sweating profusely. He sticks his back against the wall, creating as much space as possible between him and… His creature. 

"They taught you how to speak," He says matter-of-factly, not quite sure what else to say to the man who is walking slowly towards him. 

He nods, his eyes staring directly into his soul. "Speak… Think… _Learn_." He pokes his temple lightly and then points at Aron. The doctor stays rooted in his place, willing his breathing to slow down so that it looks like he's almost relieved to see him. If what Dongho said was true and that this creature imprinted on him, he's going to respond better to a more paternal-like stimulus. Even in his _head_ it sounds ridiculous. But it's worth a shot. 

"How are you?" The Creature looks at him, surprised and curious at such a question. Okay, it's working… Kind of. He just has to stay calm. "Are you hurt?" 

"Hurt?" He groans out, his tone sounding vaguely confused. 

"Let me look at you, big guy. It's gonna be okay," He keeps his voice as steady as possible, letting the creature go to him before gently touching his face. The Creature seemed to sigh in relief at the warm and kind gesture. Aron's heart pinches as he remembers that Dr. Tyler and Dongho kept him in a cage before he escaped. "You're in a lot of bad shape, buddy." 

"Buddy…" He repeats, nodding slowly. Aron feels like he's about to cry. He wonders what kind of tests they ran on him without him knowing. He wonders how long the creature was roaming around, finding him, before winding up here. For a split second, Aron doesn't see a monster. He sees a lost, scared, little boy who just wants someone to be with him. Someone who _gets_ him. 

And he was smart enough to realize that Aron is the only one who will get him. For all his life, people not only called him a nerd, doofus, or a loser. They called him a _monster_. They thought that anyone who had his intellect and abilities to do the things that he does should be ridiculed and shamed before he could realize the power he had. And just like a monster, Aron grew stronger. Aron went on to do the things people told him he couldn't do. He grew apathetic and immoral all in the pursuit of groundbreaking science. He grew to become the monster many people said he was. 

He cups the creature's — _Minhyun's_ cheek and allows himself to let one tear fall. They're not that different after all. 

_"Fffrrriiieeennddd…."_ The Creature groans out, just a little bit better than the first time Aron heard him say it. He reaches out to cup Aron's cheek too and his lip starts to tremble with overwhelming emotion. "Friend… Frankenstein… _Friend_." 

Friend. Minhyun was his friend. Dongho was his friend. Minki was his friend… Jonghyun is his friend. He has friends. He has people who love him, despite the monstrous deeds he's done. He has people who remind him he's not so different from others and that it's okay to be a little smarter than the rest of them. It's okay to be proud of what you love, of _who_ you love. Loyalty, family, _friendship_. He has all of those. 

Yet, this creature right in front of him? He's not his friend. Friends wouldn't kill his friends. If this creature truly was his friend… He wouldn't have done what he did. He wouldn't have killed Minki. 

"I am _not_ your friend." He whispers, knowing how much saying that to a man with Minhyun's face would break him. For a fraction of a second, he saw Minhyun again, but it quickly morphed to this angry monster he doesn't recognize. 

"Yes! _FRIEND!"_ He yells out, half-assured and half-frantic, hitting the surface closest to Aron's head. Aron whimpers in response, which causes the creature to stop abruptly. _"You… Are… My… Friend."_ It's like he's trying to convince himself but Aron won't budge. They're not friends. From the moment of his creation, he was a specimen. A subject. He made the terrible mistake of introducing himself as a friend. Aron could _never_ be a friend to him, not after everything he's done. 

"I am _not_ your friend! I am your _creator_ and I made a _mistake_ ," It hurts way more than it should to say it to his creation's face but he knew it to be the bitter truth. " _You_ are my _mistake_. You have to go!" 

The Creature continues to back him up against the wall, still confused and Aron could see that he doesn't have any other option to escape. "Go… With… _Frankenstein_?" 

"No!" Aron yells at the top of his lungs. "You have to _go_. _Alone_." 

"Frankenstein… _Alone_ … Friend… _no…_. Alone," Aron watches in abstract horror as the creature laughs at his made up conclusion. He isn't listening to him. Nothing Aron could say will deter him from his own developing thought process. 

"I _can't_ be your friend. I'm not _like_ you." He pushes the creature away with as much force as he could muster and backs up again the evidence board. The Creature looks at him curiously, groaning and staring at him with eyes that Aron wishes were Minhyun's. 

"Friend…. Like… _Me?_ Frankenstein… _make_ … no… _alone_." 

The statement is broken and so very wrong. Aron shakes his head. He won't do it. He knows what Minhyun — _the creature_ wants and he won't do it. He already made the mistake of bringing him into this world, he won't make the same mistake again. "You _don't_ know what you're asking. _Please_ , I can't do what you're asking me to do. W-We're going to get you back to the lab and—" 

At the mention of lab, the creature flips one of the smaller tables near the wall in anger. "NO LAB! NO ALONE!" Aron whimpers, making himself smaller against the evidence board, already fearing for the inevitability of him dying right here. The Creature looks around the room, his eyes landing on a picture of Aron, Minki and Jonghyun. He grabs the picture frame and shows it to Aron. He points at Minki, which confirms everything that Aron already believed he did. _"Friend…"_

" _He_ was my friend. You _killed_ him." 

"Friend." He keeps saying, pointing at the picture almost incessantly. "Frankenstein… Make…"

Aron shakes his head the way one would when talking to a child. "No, I won't." 

The Creature throws the picture frame across the room, effectively shattering Aron's heart. No tears. No nothing. Aron has grown numb. He can't even think anymore. A man of science and reason rendered speechless. Then, after a few seconds of just staring at him, his creature goes right up to his face. His warm breath fans across Aron's skin as he continues to stare right into his creator's eyes. 

_"For… Minhyun…"_

Aron's eyes widen. " _What_ did you just say?" 

Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, his creature starts to walk away from him. He starts ambling up the stairs mumbling _For Minhyun_ over and over again. Aron watches him leave, his legs shaking. The second he's out of sight, his legs give out from underneath him and he collapses to the floor. 

* * *

He tried. He really did try. 

But he'd rather let his creature die alone than make him a friend that could potentially terrorize the whole of South Korea. He had everything ready from the University, blood, synthetic organs, skin grafts and bones. All they had to do was flip the switch. But Aron knew that if he made another thing like the creature, he would never forgive himself. He's tainted his mother's name enough, he doesn't think he could do it again. This isn't what she would have wanted. He gets that now. 

If a few days ago he believed that running away was a solution only made for cowards, then people can now start calling him Doctor Kwak-Frankenstein: A certified coward. It doesn't matter to him now. Running away is literally the only option he has. His creature wouldn't dare kill him, that's what he determined from their brief encounter. His creature hasn't killed anybody he doesn't know, which is why he's taking Jonghyun with him. He can't risk the creature coming after Jonghyun next. If there is one thing he can do right among the million and one things he's done wrong, it would be this. 

"Wait… What did you say?" Jonghyun looks up from packing Aron's bag. "Not coming back? What do you mean?" 

"Jonghyun, I'm never coming back from this trip. Was that not clear?" 

Jonghyun stares at him blankly. "Uh, not entirely?" 

Aron stares back at him, suddenly realizing in this moment that he is feeling incredibly shy and insecure. "Having second thoughts?" 

Jonghyun steps closer to him, running a few of his fingers through his hair. Aron thinks about doing that too, not for the first time. But it's his first time acknowledging it. "It all just seems so permanent." 

"I… Realize I should have told you about this before you booked our tickets to Costa Rica but," He looks straight into Jonghyun's eyes and he knows right there and then that he will do anything to keep the stars within them for a long time. "Look, I understand if you don't want to come with me. It's unfair to ask you to give up your whole life for me." 

Jonghyun gapes at him and lets out a light chuckle of disbelief. "Yeah, but I _would_." Aron stops packing at that statement. Jonghyun's voice goes softer as he moves closer to Aron. "In a heartbeat." 

"W-Why?" is the only question Aron could ask of him in this moment. It feels illogical and insane but the past few months of his life have been _illogical and insane_. Every feeling he's felt every time he's in the same room as Jonghyun have been illogical and insane. But maybe it's also the only times where everything made sense. Where the pieces just fit. 

"It's because I'm in love with you, dummy." 

Even Jonghyun's statement felt right. But it doesn't stop Aron from feeling shocked. "Oh." He manages to say and Jonghyun just laughs. 

"Was it not obvious enough?" 

"We all know I'm not the most empathetic person in the world." Jonghyun smiled at that, stepping even more into Aron's personal space. Normally, he wouldn't like it. But Jonghyun has always been an exception. "But I'm getting better." 

"You are. And I'm proud of you." Aron's heart swells at that statement and he surprises himself by taking Jonghyun's hands in his. His best friend just continues to smile, as if he's been waiting for this moment for a long time. He probably was. Aron probably was too, he just didn't acknowledge it. "But I don't know how _you_ feel?" 

"Of course, you do! You know _everything_ about me."

Jonghyun ducks his head in nervousness. Aron finds himself thinking of the gesture as cute. "I mean… What now? Are we a thing now? Soulmates?" 

Aron scoffs. "I'm a scientist. I don't believe in soulmates." 

Jonghyun deflates a bit at that and he pretends to not let it affect him. "Yeah… Right. Of course." 

But Aron knows better now.

He steps even closer, close enough to tilt Jonghyun's head up with his finger. Even in the dim basement light, Jonghyun's eyes sparkle. It's such a privilege to be able to see the entire galaxy up close.

Then he leans in, capturing Jonghyun's lips in a searing kiss, one that takes both of their breaths away. Aron has never kissed before but Jonghyun makes it feel like he doesn't need the experience at all. Jonghyun pulls him even closer, wrapping his arms around his waist and deepening the kiss. Aron doesn't think he'll ever want to kiss anybody else after this. He likes it when it's only Jonghyun. Only the two of them. 

They pull away after what felt like a lifetime, their foreheads still pressed together. Aron matches Jonghyun's bright smile. "I don't believe in soulmates. But I do believe in _us."_

It's a moment Aron wishes to last forever. 

Yet… Just as all his wishes go, they never come true. 

Because he hears it. The familiar groan and heavy footsteps. It's coming closer and closer and Aron doesn't need to look away from Jonghyun to know that he's _here._ His voice is caught in his throat as his shadow looms over them and he's too slow to push Jonghyun away. The Creature throws Jonghyun across the room in a jealous rage, growling deeply and menacingly. Aron backs up against the wall again, yelling at the creature to stop. Then the creature grabs him by the shoulders, his eyes flashing with anger. Aron starts crying out of fear. 

"Friend like _me_!" He says, faster than the last time they encountered each other. 

"I can't do it. I _couldn't_ do it. I couldn't do it again, I'm _sorry! I'm so sorry_. Minhyun, please!" He yells and yells but the creature won't listen. 

_“FRIEND!"_ Aron's ears ring at the sheer volume of his creature's voice. He starts to squeeze his arms with superhuman strength and Aron whimpers in pain. He struggles to break free from his hold but he's just too strong. Aron is absolutely powerless. 

He's in so much crushing pain from the creature's vice-like grip that he doesn't notice Jonghyun try to pry him away from Aron. He notices too late. Everything that could have gone wrong is happening right before his very eyes. Aron could do nothing but watch in horror as the creature grabs Jonghyun by the neck and lifts him up in the air. With one last shout of rage, The Creature snaps Jonghyun's neck in mid-air and throws him back to the ground with a loud grunt. 

Aron watches Jonghyun fall to the ground as if in slow-motion. His voice comes back and he lets out a blood curdling scream of Jonghyun's name. His vision is blurred by the sudden onslaught of tears in his eyes and he sobs out apology after apology while clutching Jonghyun's body close to him. The Creature is quiet as Aron cries over Jonghyun's dead body and Aron wishes that he could kill him too. What's the whole point of this life if everyone he's ever cared about died? His mother, Minki, and now Jonghyun. 

He's alone. 

The Creature crouched down and tilts Aron's head up to look at him. Aron would much rather go blind than look at this murderer in the face. But he has nowhere else to look. He has nowhere else to _go._ He knows now that no matter how much he tries to run away from him, he'll _always_ find him. He'll be there, beside him, for as long as they shall live. The Creature smiles at him sickeningly, laughing at Aron's obvious pain and suffering. Aron couldn't think of a worse nightmare. 

"Minhyun… Aron… Alone… _Together."_

* * *

_Folder Name: Alone Together_

_File Name: With Love_Doctor Kwak-Frankenstein_Transcript_

_00:01:02 - 00:01:39_

_**ARON** "One night, when I was a kid, my dad and I camped out in the backyard and pointed out the constellation Aquila in the night sky. The eagle who ate prometheus's liver. He started calling me the professor after that. Science is what I've always been good at. Breaking things down, figuring out why they do what they do. Trial and error, mistakes just make your ideas better. But not this time. And, I may not be able to undo the damage I've done. But I can make sure that it never happens again."_

_00:01:39 - 00:02:14_

_**ARON** "These are all my notes covering everything related to the creature and our work on Kwak-Frankenstein, MD. This and… Six more boxes. After I finish with this video, I'm going to destroy it all. So that no one can ever replicate my results in a lab. But I'm going to leave all these episodes online as a warning. If you see this creature, do not attempt to confront it. It is volatile, confused and extremely dangerous. If you see this creature: Run. Just… Run."_

_00:02:14 - 00:02:49_

_**ARON** "Additionally, I have decided to mail written confessions to all the major local newspapers and the local police. I've also included all of the data I've collected about the creatures biology, movements, and its whereabouts. This is what I've done to try and make things better. It's probably not enough, but it's all I know how to do. I can't stop him by myself… I understand that now."_

_00:02:49 - 00:03:09_

_**ARON** "Hopefully, the creature will leave civilization and live somewhere in peaceful isolation. And so will I."_

_**JONGHYUN** "Aron, you down here?" _

_**ARON** "Yeah, come on down!"_

_**ARON** "So… To my viewers, thank you for watching Kwak-Frankenstein, MD. And, please don't try any of this at home." _

**_[END OF TRANSCRIPT]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WAAAHHH FINALLY ITS DONE!!
> 
> I hope you guys liked it uwu this fic is my baby and I wasn't sure how the reception was going to be like for it. But a lot of you responded so well to chapter 1 so I had no qualms of posting this chapter after. 
> 
> Anyway, if you want to talk, you can @ me on twt minmanager or send me prompts in my cc kwakhead :> I do all nuest ships!! 
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading!!

**Author's Note:**

> My twt is minmanager pls be my friend uwu


End file.
